Isaya Empire
Often referred to as 'blood crystal isayas', isayas are a species that evolved as a carnivorous predator with a rather morbid dietary requirement: Blood. They can ingest blood normally through with food, or absorb it through the porous crystalline-like protrusions from their wrists. The blood they consume gives their crystalline spines their red colour, as the creatures of Caiakine possess red blood. An isaya who takes enough blood of an alien creature with differently-coloured blood will have their spines turn that colour. An isaya with dull, grey spines is likely starved of blood. Culture Until the events of Royal Blood, the Isaya race was ruled by the cruel and barbaric King Aurolphar, who treated war as a sport and would often send his subjects into battle for entertainment. It was difficult to predict who King Aurolphar would declare war on. Sometimes he found joy in watching a small, weak species being wiped out, other times he liked to watch his loyal soldiers battle against stronger, more challenging races. With their exposure to other empires and cultures during Aurolphar's reign, however, not all isayas supporedt their king's ways. Some isayas, such as Captain Gromper's friend Doustorio, dreamed of dethroning the king for a more peaceful future. This came to fruition in Royal Blood, when when King Aurolphar was killed in battle by his daughter Allune, thereby making her queen. Despite seeming rather malevolent at a glance, many isayas are only hostile towards other individuals when provoked or ordered to do so by an authoritative figure, and will otherwise be rational and negotiable. Royal Family The royal family of the Isaya Empire once consisted of King Aurolphar, the Neoru Queen Alymaira, and their hybrid daughter Princess Allune. While the King and the Queen both shared the same violent, warmongering tendencies, Princess Allune did not. Allune's scepticism towards her parents' ways was heightened when she met Doustorio, a nonviolent isaya who opposed the King and Queen. As Allune and Doustorio grew closer, Allune's dissidence towards her parents increased. During a routine visit to the experimental colony Fleshwell, the Neoru Queen became enraged by her daughter's dissidence and became violent. In a panicked attempt to defend herself, Princess Allune inadvertently killed the Queen. After learning of this incident, King Aurolphar abandoned Allune on Fleshwell and attempted to cover it up by claiming that his wife and daughter had been killed in a pirate raid. For many years, Princess Allune survived on Fleshwell and rose to the position of the leader of its remaining inhabitants. Over time, the population of Fleshwell managed to overcome the technology that was being used to make the planet and its signals undetectable, catching the attention of various travellers. Among them was Doustorio and his party of Anti-Aurolphar rebels, who would soon rediscover the supposedly extinct neoru population, as well as Princess Allune. When convinced by Doustorio to return to Caiakine, Allune found that her father still held the same destructive ways as before, and their conflicting values immediately caused conflict. With the Isaya Empire being part of the Gondor Council at this time, Princess Allune and King Aurolphar were in near-constant disagreement on how to handle their empire's role in the Azedi Belt conflict. This caused tensions to only rise further, eventually resulting in the king declaring a death match against Allune, in order to determine who was truly worthy of ruling the Isaya Empire. On the day of the match, however, Princess Allune defeated and killed King Aurolphar, thus ending his reign and ascending to the role of Queen. Neoru While 'isaya' can refer specifically to the commonly known isaya species, 'Isaya Empire' is a term that denotes both this species and the neoru subspecies. The neoru, while very similar in appearance to the isayas, lack their trademark wrist crystals. Their nature, as noted in the history of the Isaya Empire, was very similar to that of the isayas. Despite both the neoru and the isayas bearing an aggressive and hostile culture, the two species lived together in relative unity under the rule of the Isaya King Aurolphar and the Neoru Queen, who bore a hybrid daughter, Allune. The neoru and isayas were compatible for interbreeding and would often produce fertile offspring. For this reason, many modern isayas possess traces of neoru DNA, and vice versa. Despite this, the two have always been officially recognised as separate species. At the beginning of King Aurolphar's reign, it was noted that the neoru population was dwindling due to out-breeding by the isayas and heavier losses from violent conflict. At the time of the Queen Alymaira's death, the majority of the neoru population inhabited Fleshwell. When all contact with this colony was severed, it was assumed that its inhabitants would die out and that the neoru subspecies would become extinct when the last remaining members outside of Fleshwell eventually died. However, the recent rediscovery of Fleshwell and its thriving inhabitants has shown that this subspecies had not actually died out. Category:Empires Category:Isaya